Depending on your point of view, Game of Thrones either went out with a whimper or a bang with its final season. The long-running fantasy drama that had been providing gut-wrenching character arcs and complex storylines for almost a decade had a lot of expectations to meet and only six episodes to make it happen. Its eighth season not only meant the end of years of fan theorizing - it also meant the end of memes devoted to it.
For better or for worse, the finale of Season 8 was rife with material for some of the most humorous Game of Thrones memes to date. The way certain events played out, the way certain characters lived and died, and the way certain long-standing plot points just sort of...got forgotten...meant that the meme making was going to be merciless. Here are 10 of the most hilarious memes from the season finale, which we hope will either make you remember it fondly or make up for its mediocrity.
IF THERE WAS NO THRONE
In perhaps one of the most powerful pieces of thematic imagery in the Season 8 finale Drogon, enraged by the death of Mama Dany at the hands of Jon Snow, destroyed the Iron Throne. The embodiment of power and influence in Westeros, the driving force behind the machinations and motivations of dozens of its citizens, was gone in one fiery blaze.
Viewers thought that Drogon might turn his oral flamethrower on Jon in his despair, but Drogon seemed to know that it should be the Iron Throne that burned. The thing his Mama had worked so hard to obtain wasn’t going to be anyone else’s if it wasn’t going to be hers.
BRIENNE WAS THE HOTTEST OF THEM ALL THE END
Viewers received an unexpected treat in Episode 4 of Season 8 when Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth finally did something about all the great chemistry they had together. They’d just been through the most important battle of their lives against the White Walkers at Winterfell, and in the aftermath realized how much they meant to one another.
After spending a fantastic few nights together, Jaime left Brienne to go back to vile Cersei, when Brienne has done nothing but protect, defend, and love Jaime for almost the entire series. This is what the fans thought she ought to have written when filling in the rest of his life’s events.
ODE TO TERRIBLE HAIRCUTS
When Jaime and Cersei were first introduced in Season 1, it was readily apparent that these two were the Prom King and Queen of Westeros. With their flowing blonde locks, beautiful faces, and agile bodies, it was no wonder everyone had the hots for them (or that they had the hots for each other!).
Then something happened. Something terrible (although depending on your feelings about Cersei, notsomuch). They got horrible haircuts. Perhaps it was the Royal Barber getting his own type of revenge, but Jaime got a lame buzzcut and Cersei got a bowl-cut not unlike the one her son Joffrey had. When they died together, only people with mullets and bangs attended their funeral.
THE GROUP PROJECT
Some viewers argued that handing over the Six Kingdoms to Bran the Broken in the series finale was a total cop-out. For fans of Jon Snow, Dany, Sansa, and the other contenders for the Iron Throne, it felt like a weak attempt at irony. Bran refused the title of King in the North because of him being the Three-Eyed Raven, so why would he accept a kingship?
Unless of course, Bran knew all along what his royal destiny was. He seemed to imply as much when Tyrion humbly suggested that he, not any of the lords or ladies of Westeros, accept the crown. Perhaps he could also see the backlash from fans who felt he hadn’t earned it at all?
THE MATTER OF THE NIGHT'S WATCH
Some fans may have thought the sentence Jon Snow received for killing Dany in front of the Iron Throne was odd. Banished to the Night’s Watch? The place he just came from? Where he wouldn’t be able to take a wife not have any children? Was that even still a thing?
As Tyrion explained to Jon, Grey Worm didn’t know much about Westeros or its people, so the Unsullied felt that Jon’s banishment and life of perpetual spinsterhood was punishment enough once they heard of the Night’s Watch. What he didn’t know, was that there was no Night’s Watch, and Jon was really going to be the leader of the Free Folk.
ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY CHANGE THE MAIN VILLAIN
Viewers went into the series finale knowing that there were a lot of loose ends that needed to be tied up. Storylines long in the making were going to get resolved, and character arcs were going to get closure. And most importantly, there were finally going to be some major battles with some major enemies that they’d been waiting eight years to see.
With only six episodes in Season 8, the writers had to make quick work of these confrontations, all leading to who would sit on the Iron Throne. Unfortunately, that meant rushing through each one on the way to the next, and crushing the emotional impact of seeing tyrants being brought to justice. Maybe the prequel show will be better!
TARGARYEN, WE'VE GOT A TARGARYEN HERE!
Much fuss was made over the big reveal in Season 7 that Jon Snow wasn’t the bastard son of Ned Stark, but the biological son of his sister, Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen (Dany’s father). He was born Aegon Targaryen, and was the rightful heir to the Iron Throne being the last surviving Targaryen male.
Knowledge of Jon’s true identity would mean the end of Dany’s claim to the throne to anyone that protested having her queen of Westeros. Yet when Jon’s family found out, Tyrion found out, and whomever Varys got word to, that tidbit suddenly didn’t even matter, and was sort of swept under the rug.
THE SEASON 8 RECAP
Saying that Season 8 was a divisive season is like saying Tyrion likes women and wine too much. It was the final season of a series that had built itself on a foundation of complex storylines and integrated character arcs, convoluted enough at times to be confusing, but never dull.
By Season 8, the writers were accused of having to rush the resolutions of several plotlines and characters arcs that had been building for eight years. The finale was like the center of a labyrinth that took an incredibly difficult and complex road to get to...only the writers broke right through the walls and finished everything without a naturally satisfying end.
MY LITTLE DOTHRAKI
Of all the groups of people in Westeros at the time of the series finale, the Dothraki got the shaft the worst. Their khaleesi had been killed, their reason for being in Westeros was taken from them, and they didn’t get to be part of the united khalasar of the Stallion Who Mounts The World they were promised.
But besides all that, why was their group so big at all? In Episode 4, their forces were a few handfuls after most perished in the Battle of Winterfell. Yet there were hundreds of them in King’s Landing, ready to be sent packing by King Bran, while the Unsullied sailed to the Island of Naath.
THE KINGSLAYER
For those that believe that Jaime Lannister isn’t really a bad guy, and that most of the evil he did was committed on behalf of his sister Cersei, one need only look to when he shoved Bran out of a tower for spying on an intimate moment between them. Had he known that Bran would become the future king of Westeros, he might have made sure he was truly dead.
Jaime got his title of “Kingslayer” for taking out the Mad King Aerys Targaryen, and for good reason - the Mad King would rather have burned down all of King’s Landing with wildfire than let anyone take the Iron Throne from him.